Things I Learned While Processing Chickens

[DollDoctor]

Last year I was part of a group processing chickens, but today I did my first two all by myself. Here are some things I learned.

1. Have a good supply of bandaids and bactine on hand.

2. Wyandottes are a "dual purpose" breed only if you don't eat much.

3. Have a big enough pot to scald the birds. And something to push them down into the water with. They want to float!

4. A thermometer for the scalding water is not necessary. I brought the water to a boil. then took it off the stove while I bled out the chicken. Seemed to be just about right.

5. People don't just use automatic pluckers because they are quicker - they use them so they don't have to inhale the lovely aroma of wet chicken feathers while plucking by hand.

Tomorrow I'll do two more. I better get some more bandaids!

Zendelle in Maine

 

[Emerald]

number 6.. Cook something else for dinner cuz you ain't gonna be eating chicken for a week after doing the plucking..

 

[DollDoctor]

Good one, Emerald!

 

[GardenWeasel]

We just did our first last Sunday. Note to newbies do not gut the eggbound one first what a slimy yolky mess. Very hard to tell if you got everything. second bird came out just like Biggity's tutorial.

 

[TanksHill]

Very funny.

One thing about the water though. It boils way hotter than you would ever need it. Mine comes from the tap almost hot enough. Be careful you don't cook the skin.

When dunking just hang on to the feet. If your wearing those fashionable yellow gloves you should be able to handle the heat.

Good luck tomorrow.

G

 

[BarredBuff]

Harvesting Dual Purpose birds is not a lot of meat, we can debone and can ours

 

[Hinotori]

I learned that plucking silkies sucks. The fluffy feathers won't let go when wet.

Make sure your knives are sharp is another one. It's frustrating to try and skin a rooster out when the knife is dull. (We use the ax method to dispatch so the knives don't matter to the animal)

 

[Wannabefree]

Sharp knives, definately, and have a container to drop the still flopping birds if you aren't hanging them.

 

[DollDoctor]

I did better with the second two today! Only cut myself a little!

Learned another lesson - make sure you test to see if they are scalded enough by pulling on a wing feather. I didn't dunk quite long enough, the body feathers came off fine but the wing feathers were tough.

 

[GardenWeasel]

Sharp knives, went through about every knife in the house to find one. Knife sharpener on shopping list. Shaky hands and a knife, not good. Killing named birds not fun. Have Beaky broth in the canner now. Eww Then had to test a bite of Old Girl. A couple weeks in the freezer might help.